UAW members protest cop killing of co-worker
BY IRENE HUTTON
DETROIT--Members of the United Auto Workers union spearheaded a protest of 200 people September 23 outside the main police station here to condemn the police killing of Dwight Turner, one of their co-workers. Turner, a 49-year-old worker at Ford Motor Company's parts depot, was on a week's vacation when he was killed by police while standing on his front porch.
Scores of hand-lettered picket signs included slogans such as "What happened to the right to remain alive?" "Unions must stand against cop murder--remember Dwight Turner, member of UAW Local 600," "Give Benny [Detroit police chief Benny Napoleon] the boot."
Callie Smith, who worked with Turner at the parts depot for 22 years, carried a sign that said, "UAW 600 is 30,000 strong! Dwight Turner was one of us! We can help stop killer cops!" "He was a kind and intelligent man," she said. "Co-workers loved him."
A short rally followed the picket line. One speaker after another voiced their determination to keep up the protests until the cop who killed Turner is charged with murder. "We have a voice," said Robert Morris, a co-worker of Dwight Turner for 20 years, and a board member of UAW Local 600. "We will exercise that voice until the violence stops. Now it's come to the light. We will never let up again."
Joining about 30 of Turner's co-workers were family and friends of others killed by the Detroit cops, along with members of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, and other activists.
Arnetta Grable, the mother of Lamar Grable, was one of the speakers. "After four years, they're still trying to say that they don't have enough evidence to convict his killer. If they get away with one, they will get away with all. We have to keep fighting." Lamar Grable, 20, was shot eight times in his chest, arms, and back in September 1996 by policeman Eugene Brown, who was awarded the Walter Scott Distinguished Service Award for bravery in 1997 as a result.
Other speakers included Adam Ortiz, deputy director of Amnesty International's Midwest regional office in Chicago; Reverend Leonard Young, director of the National Baptist Convention's civil rights commission; and Cardinal Aswad Walker, pastor of the Shrine of the Black Madonna.
About 30 members of the Detroit Federation of Motorcycle Clubs joined the picket line to protest the January 1999 fatal shooting of Darren "Krunch" Miller, a member of the Free Wheelers.
Family and friends of Errol Shaw Sr., 39, were also there. Shaw, a deaf man, was gunned down by cops on August 29 while standing in his driveway holding a rake.
Killed on front porch
Turner was killed on his front porch September 8 shortly after midnight. He was wearing his pajamas. He had a gun because he had heard a marauding dog that had been harassing the neighborhood for two years. Turner had complained about the dog to Animal Control several times, but had gotten no response. A neighbor of his reported that he had "seen that dog chase people up on their porches. It had attacked a couple of postal workers."
Articles in the daily newspapers painted a picture of Turner as a drunk armed with a gun who was wildly searching the streets for a pesky dog. The police claim that he had been running through the neighborhood shooting at the dog before they confronted him.
Attorney Geoffrey Feiger, retained by Turner's family, challenged the validity of these slanderous stories. Speaking at a news conference, Feiger explained, "He was home alone. He was not drinking or doing drugs. He heard the dog and walked out on his front porch. Where are the witnesses to say that he was running up and down the street?" An independent autopsy showed the fatal bullet entered Turner's chest at a downward angle. Feiger said the evidence proves that Turner was bent over at the time he was shot. He said the facts corroborate the statements of neighbors who said they witnessed Turner bending over to put the gun down.
Turner was killed by Wayne Little, a 12-year veteran of the police department. Little was cleared in three earlier shootings. In April 1999, he shot 22-year-old Robert McGee in the chest during a traffic stop. Little claimed he was defending himself against McGee, who he said was trying to run him down with his van. After spending nine months in jail awaiting trial, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury acquitted McGee.
Attorney Geoffrey Feiger called Detroit "the police murder capital of the country." At a news conference Feiger said, "This never-ending hail of bullets has got to cease."
Rising polarization
There have been 47 police shootings since 1995, including seven killings so far this year, and three in the past month. This has created tension and polarization in Detroit, which has an overwhelmingly Black population. The newspapers carry daily news articles on the latest protests, revelations, and police actions.
Two days after Turner was killed, the Board of Police Commissioners called for a "town meeting" on the issue of police shootings. Five hundred people attended the polarized gathering. About half were cops, uniformed and plainclothed, along with their families and civilian associates. The rest were were there to protest the mounting number of cop killings. Among them were 20 co-workers of Turner, along with family and friends of other victims of cop shootings. They put their stamp on the character of the meeting even though it was initiated and organized by the cops.
As one after another speaker applauded the cops, those opposed to police violence became angry. In the last 45 minutes several of Turner's co-workers, members of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, and other activists spoke.
Nicole Robinson, one of the auto workers who organized the picket line protesting Turner's death, read a poem written by a co-worker that said in part, "It's time we all get mad and finally take a stand. Or will we wait and seal the fate of another innocent man?"
Robinson, who worked with Turner for four years, passed out leaflets at the hearing to publicize the September 23 picket line. "The day after Dwight was murdered," she said, "some of us got together and decided to organize a protest. We got a lot of support within the plant. We are demanding that the man who shot Dwight Turner be charged with first degree murder. This protest is not just for Dwight. It's for everybody."
Bobby Ramirez, a UAW grief counselor and 12-year co-worker of Turner's, also spoke. "As a UAW member," he said, "an injury to one is an injury to all."
Chris Hoeppner, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate, took issue with those who think the recently appointed police review board will end police violence. "This isn't a bad apple cop problem," said Hoeppner. "This is not a problem of rogue cops, insensitivity, or lack of proper training. This is an institutional problem, from New York City, to Dearborn, to Los Angeles, to Detroit. Cop violence is the problem.
"They are no different," Hoeppner said, "from the executives and owners of Ford Motor Co., who are getting away scot-free after six workers died as a result of the explosion at the Rouge Power Plant. They should all be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for those deaths. What we need in this country is a revolution to end the capitalist system that breeds violence against working people, and a socialist society where human needs come before profits."
The police chief announced the establishment of the review board the day before the "town hall" meeting. Members of the board include Wendell Anthony, Detroit branch NAACP president; several individuals described as "community activists;" a public school administrator; and a lawyer. Ron Scott, a leader of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, declined an invitation to be on the review board.
The Detroit City Council and Mayor Dennis Archer have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to probe the killings.
A report released by the City Council details the skyrocketing cost of lawsuits directed against police brutality. The City of Detroit has paid out more than $123 million between 1987 and 1999 to settle 1,109 lawsuits, according to the report. More than $32 million was paid out just in the past three years. Lawsuits against police violence "continue to represent a serious problem for the City of Detroit," the report warns. "Huge sums of money will continue to be paid out for several years to come. The fiscal health of the city requires that they be drastically reduced as soon as possible."
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